Node wars

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God Spike Scholar PvE objective during the Harness the Godspike node war event.[2]

Scholars are going to spawn across the POI. They'll be marked on our map and they're going to increase the time it's required for the enemy to channel; and drop a hefty amount of the materials we need to turn in to be able to channel ourselves.[3]Chris Justo

Node war map icons
Miraleth Node Icon.png Friendly node
Winestead Node Icon.png Enemy node
Node War Objective Icon.png Node war objective
POI Blue Node Controlled.png Controlled POI

Mayors may declare war on another node and rally citizens to the cause.[4][5][6]

  • It costs resources to declare a node war. These are able to be gathered through special mayoral commissions relating to war preparations.[4] Additionally, Mayors may only declare war on nodes with sufficiently low Node-to-node reputation scores. This requirement may be disabled or reduced for Alpha-2 testing. Accordingly the frequency of node wars in Alpha-2 will likely be higher than in the final game.[9][10]
We don't want mayors running around in Ashes of Creation just perma flagging the whole world into a state of PvP, well it's going to cost you some resources to do that.[4]Chris Justo
  • Node wars are structured into phases, and each phase consists of events. Winning phases and events offer long-term and short-term rewards.[16]
A war contains phases and phases contain events. So, there are conditions to win a phase and then there are conditions to win a war. Winning a phase gets you some amount of in-the-moment rewards and some more long-term rewards. Winning events gets you some amount of in-the-moment rewards and long-term rewards. And then the war is the massive objective that you're competing to towards.[16]Chris Justo
We have conditions that you can set between nodes with regards to either nodes being friendly with each other and acting trade alliances, or they can declare war on nodes similar to how guild wars may function in different games, where those citizens become hostile to each other based on the player government that's elected in the particular node. So those systems all cater to allowing a conflict that's meaningful and that also provides a non-imbalanced relationship between stronger guilds and not as strong guilds.[19]Steven Sharif
Q: Are there any plans to have upkeep cost to war in addition to the initiation costs? It would be incredibly compelling to know that crafters and gatherers would have to work double time to ensure that the war can go on, or even stop supporting the war if they find it unnecessary.
A: Not necessarily within the war context, however I think the crux of that question is, how do we include material resource requirements, active artisanship, engagement, all of these other gameplay systems: How are they interconnected with a political event like war? And the way we achieve that is obviously there are things that can enhance your war preparedness or your war efficacy through the use of unique weapons during war. Unique upgrades to your guards by supplying resources to the barracks so that you have stronger guards at your headquarters, or weapons and shields and armors that can be utilized through the barracks system. In addition, vehicle support for sieges. There's a lot of different ways where crafting and artisanship plays a role as enhancing, not necessarily maintaining, a particular war or feature.[20]Steven Sharif
Q: Will there be a scoreboard detailing the most active participants achievements during the node war. Things like: players KDA, damage, healing done, objectives, etc.
A: You'll be able to see yours for sure and you may be able to see others if they opt-in.[23]Steven Sharif
info-orange.png
Some of the following information has not been recently confirmed by the developers and may not be on the current development roadmap.

Node war types

Alpha-2 Node relationships UI panel showing the status of a Territory control node war between Miraleth and Winstead.[24]

Different types of node wars can be declared by Mayors.[25][7][8]

There's a lot of different options that we intend to provide for the war system; and this is one of the primary methods of player friction. So, we want to keep that compelling, interesting from a design perspective, which all of these different war types are intending to provide. And throughout Alpha-2, we'll be introducing additional node war event types.[28]Steven Sharif
  • Some node war types will have more PvE objectives and fewer PvP objectives, and vice-versa.[29]
  • Some but not all node war types will flag a node's allies as combatants in addition to the node's citizens.[14]
  • Certain node war types may impose a cap on how many players can join the events.[30]
  • Logistic and supply stages may be present in some node war types.[31]
Q: To what extent will logistics and supply lines be integrated into node wars?
A: There has been some discussion around certain event types requiring those types of supplies within certain timeframes. So, acquiring material resources, transporting those material resources to specific locations, being stage components of event types. So, in that sense we do want to simulate these ideas of logistics and supply lines, but that's delegated to specific war event types.[31]Steven Sharif

Node war declarations

Alpha-2 node war declaration UI.[32]

What this is going to do is it's going to flag us against each other: the citizens of our node and the citizens the node you declare on. And then we'll do battle over certain POIs in both of our zones of influence and gain control over them based on winning those events and those POIs; and once we've accumulated enough victory points we'll win the war, which gives our zone a big buff as well.[8]Chris Justo

Mayors may declare different types of war against another node.[7][8][5][6]

  • It costs resources to declare a node war. These are able to be gathered through special mayoral commissions relating to war preparations.[33][4] If citizens fail to complete these commissions in the timeframe then the node war cannot be declared, the cost of the commissions is sunk, and the commission slots will go on cooldown for some period of time.[34]
Let's say the majority of citizens don't want to complete those commissions. Then the mayor is not capable of utilizing the action and they've wasted that commission slot for some period of time and the cost associated with deploying it.[35]Steven Sharif
As reputation scores deteriorate; and when they deteriorate it serves as a predicate for the mayor to now have the option to start those war procedures. Now, still in the long run you're going to require buy-in from the citizens, and when people catch wind of that there are ways to disrupt to prevent the acquisition of some materials in order to acquire the wars scroll, to influence the land management score of the surrounding area, to capture caravans that are moving those supplies to the node: those are all 10,000 foot level strategy, not tactics but strategy, in how do I stop a rival node where I see my reputation score with them is low enough that they could start these actions.[36]Steven Sharif
There may be multiple events that occur over a multi-day war between nodes that the sides can catch up in. Prime time does not influence war declaration, so you could have a war declaration occur at an off-hour time, but ultimately a war declaration is primarily just, 'we're openly flagged against each other,' and these events will spawn during prime time.[11]Steven Sharif
The position we're in now from a design perspective is that certain war scrolls and war types will induct alliances as participants of the declared war, but not all wars will. So, that is predicated on the war scroll used.[14]Steven Sharif
Q: Can you please explain the reason why nodes cannot declare war on their parent or vassal nodes?
A: They've lost that battle already. The reason that they're a vassal is because they were outranked by their parent and the clutches of vassal ship are strong and any insubordination or uprising is killed in its roots.[13]Steven Sharif
  • There is no proximity restriction on war declaration.[38]
Q: Us it possible to be hired as a mercenary when I'm not a citizen of the node?
A: There's not a direct mercenary contract system, however there will be certain war scrolls that will be available in the future, not obviously at the entrance of A2, but there will be certain war scrolls that could be cooperative: that allow multiple nodes to joint declare war; and also potential defensive pacts and treaties that exist at the diplomacy level between nodes. So, those types of systems are intended.[27]Steven Sharif

Node war events

Node war events are initiated by Mayors when declaring war on another node.[7][8]

- None -

Server prime-time

Objective-based PvP events such as node sieges, castle sieges, guild wars, and node wars will occur within a prime-time window somewhere between 3PM and 9PM server realm time. This is subject to testing.[45][46][47]

The key about the server prime time is that events cater to prime time. So, these inflection points where our expectation from a gameplay design is to allow or afford players an opportunity to participate in highly impactful events within the game: Those get delegated to prime time.[11]Steven Sharif

Node-to-node reputation

Q: If two nodes are friendly towards each other but a new mayor wants to unilaterally start a war, how many mayoral cycles would it take for the new mayor to degrade node relations to the point that a war commission would become available?
A: That's a very very good question. So, that includes a system that hasn't yet fully been implemented, which is our mandate power system; and mandates are essentially powers that the mayor will have available to them in order to enact certain policies; and some policies might make it possible for the mayor to degrade node relationships faster than would normally be available, but cost him more mandate power in order to enact those policies. Now this requires some level of buy-in from the citizenship: Not just the fact that he got elected, but these policies that get enabled will require some opt-in participation from the broader citizenship. And if then he is granted some of those emergency power acts that the policies provide. he could skip the standard degradation period or time in order to enact either a war event or some other type of adverse relationship type action with the node.[51]
Q: There seems to be many ways nodes can hurt each other through PvP means. Are there ways to hurt rival nodes without a direct PvP system or component?
A: There are less straightforward ways to affect a node than PvP. Some of those ways can be through commissions that might help to degrade the reputation between nodes that have alliances or trade partnerships with each other. Some means might be through [the] land management system, where you can sap the resources of the surrounding area for the node, driving population away from that. [Some] might be through policy choices that certain nodes can take, which help to isolate some of the actions that your neighboring nodes can take. It can be through vassalship- There's a lot of different systems that are secondary and not necessarily PvP Centric that we intend to provide nodes the ability to interact with.[49]Steven Sharif

Node politics

There won't be a civil war mechanic within nodes but there will be scope for internal political conflicts; such as undermining the current leadership and disrupting trade.[53]

We want consequences to matter and if that person got elected then you need to work within the means of the mechanics to get them unelected.[54]Steven Sharif

Node sieges

Node sieges were released in Alpha-2 phase-2.[55][56][57]

As some areas in the world grow, others will fall. This is the foundation of the living, breathing world that is Ashes of Creation, where players will have the ability to make important decisions that matter in the longevity of an area becoming a city, or whether to siege a rival town. Rise above the ashes, create the world around you, and be a part of the story that unfolds because of your actions and decisions.[58]Margaret Krohn

Node sieges enable players to destroy nodes starting at Village (stage 3).[58] This paves the way for new development and access to the locked content in surrounding nodes. Due to this dynamic, political strife and intrigue play an important role in the structure of the world.[60][61][62][63][64]

  • Sieging nodes will not be an easy task for the attackers. Cities and metropolises will have a considerable defensive advantage.[65][64]
We do want there to be some semblance of advantage for defenders, because losing your node is a pretty big deal, but but at the same time we do want it to be a fight that is winnable by either side to some extent.[65]Margaret Krohn
If you own a home in a node and you don't want to see that home destroyed, you need to defend that city![67]Steven Sharif
  • Lower level characters will have usefulness in mass combat that does not depend on their level, such as manning siege weapons, helping repair fortifications, bringing proximity-based buffs to key positions, using stealth or scaling walls. These types of things are relevant to the tide of battle and do not require the player to be max-level or have high combat stats.[68]
  • There will be systems that mimic some of the mechanics of sieges, but there won't be practice sieges.[69]
  • Node sieges were released in Alpha-2 phase-2.[55][56][57]
    • Alpha-2 node sieges are open-world, but they include a temporary registration and approval process for both attackers and defenders to manage the number of participants during testing.[75]
    • The MVP (Minimum Viable Product) does not incorporate node destruction but instead offers other rewards for successful node attacks/defenses.[76]
    • Participants on the winning team will receive rewards via mail.[55]
We are going to be putting in a temporary kill zone. So there will be registration on behalf of the defenders and on the attackers that will have an approval process for the attacker who laid the siege scroll and for the defender whose node it is to approve participants. If you're not on the registration list and you're in the vicinity of the fight, you will have a countdown and then you'll be murdered unless you leave the area. So, that's a temporary solution to ensure that we can keep the numbers at around 250 to 300 players roughly for these events until we get higher capacity capability.[75]Steven Sharif

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See also

References

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